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Greg in ‘Huffington Post’: A ‘Valuable Lesson’ for Maryland

Adding to the frenzy of local, national, and international press generated by recent events at the University of Maryland, Greg has taken to The Huffington Post with a simple message for Maryland State Senator Andrew P. Harris: "If you don’t want to help someone spread their message, don’t attempt to censor them."

Greg’s message to Harris and the Maryland legislature comes, of course, in response to Harris’ threats to threaten the university’s state funding if it allowed students to screen the adult film Pirates II: Scagnetti’s Revenge.

Despite the legislative threats, students at Maryland—after initially canceling their planned viewing—went ahead and screened parts of the film this past Monday night with, if anything, more wind in their sails. Greg wryly comments that, "[i]ndeed, I suspect many of those in attendance probably showed up simply because they resented the legislature’s attempt to legislate morality, not because they particularly wanted to watch a pornographic film."

And in noting Sen. Harris’ promise to escalate his threats against Maryland, Greg rebuts that

Even if we assume that the film was unprotected obscenity (a debatable point), it is not illegal for adults in the state of Maryland to view pornography. Passing a law intended to single out college students at the University of Maryland is not just a waste of legislative time–it also fails to recognize that colleges and universities are places where it can be part of someone’s job to study material that others might consider offensive. (Indeed, sometimes precisely because it’s offensive.)